OLYMPIA, the scene of the celebrated Olympic games (q.v.), is a beautiful valley in Elis, in the Peloponnesus, through whichruns the river Alpheus. As a national sanctuary of the Greeks, Olympia contained, within a small space, many of the choicest treasures of Grecian art belonging to all periods and states, such as temples, monuments, altars, theaters, and multitudes of images, statues, and votive-offerings of brass and marble. In the time of the elder Pliny, there still stood here about 3,000 statues. The Sacred grove (called the Allis of Olympia, inclosed a level space about 4,000 ft. long by nearly 2,000 broad, containing both the spot appropriated to the games and the sanctuaries connected with them. It was finely wooded, and in its center stood is clump of sycamores. The Altis was crossed from w. to e. by a road called the " Pompic way, ' along which all the processions passed. The Alpheus bounded it on the s., the Cladeus, a tributary of the the former, on the w., and rocky but gently swelling hills on the n.; westward it looked inwards the Ionian sea. The most celebrated building was the Olympieium, or Olympium, dedicated to Olympian Zeus. It was designed by the architect Litton of Elis in the 6th
c. D.C., but was not completed for more than a century. It contained a colossal statue of the god, the masterpiece of the sculptor Phidias, and many other splendid figures; its paintings were the work of Pancenus, a relative of Phidias. Next to the Olympieitun ranked the Herveum, dedicated to Hera, the wife of Zeus, and the queen of Heaven, con taining the table on which were placed the garlands prepared for the victors in the games; the Pelopium, the .31etrouvr, the ten Thesavri or treasuries, built for the reception of the dedicatory offerings of the Greek cities, the temples of Eileithyia and Aphrodite also deserve mention; the Stadium and the _Hippodrome, where the contests took place, stood at the east2rn end of the Altis. The plowshare now passes through the scene of these contests, but many ruins still attest the ancient magnificence of the buildings. In 1875 explorations, at the expense of the German government, were undertaken at Olympia, and already several important " finds " have been made.